VINTED: THE FUTURE OF FASHION? cheap on a dodgy Chinese site, right?
Rhiannon D’Averc tried out an app that is all the rage right now – and discovered whether it’s the future of fashion, or a flash in the pan. Vinted is an app which allows you to sell your old clothes to strangers, or people in your local area. It has come more to the mainstream consciousness in recent months, with posters and other advertisements splashed across London. It promises the opportunity to get cash for your unwanted items – but what is the reality of using the app?
So, I listed this item, noting the correct size, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it had sold just a couple of days later. I actually got back what I originally paid for it, minus a bit of the shipping fee, so that made me pretty happy. After the order had been confirmed, I had a few days’ grace to get it shipped out to the buyer’s address (you can also choose to have items delivered to a local pick-up point if you don’t want to reveal your home details).
We’ve all seen the videos scattered across YouTube of bloggers using sites like Wish, which seem to offer too good a deal to be true. Usually, it turns out that it really isn’t true at all. eBay has also suffered from a poor reputation, as user to user sales often end up in tales of “lost” parcels, fake item sales, and difficulty with holding others accountable.
The funds were not put into my account right away. Rather, after being taken from the customer’s account, they sit in limbo with the Vinted team during the delivery process. Once the customer has received the item and confirmed that it was as described, they clear the funds and you get paid. I got great feedback from this customer, which encouraged me to go ahead and list more.
So, does Vinted fit into this category as well? I’ve been using the app for a couple of months, and I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised.
Working in batches, I’ve now managed to list over 65 items – from my own wardrobe, my partner’s, and even my Mum’s after she heard that I was successfully selling. I’ve only managed to get rid of six items so far, across five sales, but that feels like a very good rate for just a few hours of work to take the photos and write descriptions.
I started listing a batch of items that were old things from the back of my wardrobe, some worn and some brand new, that I no longer wanted. My first experiment was actually with a bra I had bought from another website: it was not delivered in the correct size and the customer service team turned out to be, well, non-existent. That’s what you get for buying something
The listing process is pretty fast, and the shipping process is also straightforward. Buyers can choose to have their items sent by Royal Mail or by another shipping service, in which case you can actually print off shipping labels at home and just
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